Sweden Social Web Camp 2010 – 400 web nerds go camping

This weekend,  with my colleagues Kajsa and Janne, I had the privilege of experiencing something quite unique – Sweden Social Web Camp (SSWC) – a weekend conference out on the remote and beautiful island Tjärö in the south of Sweden. The purpose of the weekend is to get people together in “real life” to network and discuss the web in a very broad sense and it’s organized by a couple of social media enthusiasts. Over 400 people participated, all from different parts of the country and with very different professional and personal background. We all had one important thing in common though…passion for social media and the belief that the social web is a positive force in the world in everything from promoting real democracy to improving people’s quality of life.

The method used to organize the conference was “unconference” where the participant themselves create the content and the schedule. There were so many interesting sessions and too little time! Examples of topics where: How do we digitally maintain and make our cultural heritage accessible in a sustainable and engaging way? How do organizations get ROI on their Facebook presence? Should companies be on Facebook at all? The “open gov”: what information should be made available and what should we do with it? Should some information not be made accessible? Politics 2.0: assessment of the Swedish politicians’ presence in social media. (Note that we have a general election coming up in Sweden in September.) Digital story telling: a credible way to communicate a brand on the web. It’s all done in an interactive manner where the participants are as vital (or more) as the session organizers. And much more…

I will without a doubt try to get a ticket to SSWC next year as well, but I have to be quick…this year the event was sold out within one hour of the release of the tickets. Needless to say, I feel inspired and even more convinced that the social web is such positive force in the development of a better world:). Or as the organizers put it: “It’s all about love.”

frida

August 16, 2010

• Frida Roberts
• SSWC
• Swedensocial Webcamp
• Tjärö
• unconference